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[WX9M]

Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS, WSJT-X v2.5.4, RIGblaster duo – trying to get virtual com port set up for PTT
Hello,

First off: I am new to Linux/Ubuntu so I may not have the correct terminology in what I am asking.

I decided to ditch MS Windows and made the switch to Linux. So far I have been able set up things the way I like them (desktop, appearance, etc) and am loving it! Hardware that Ubuntu just found and made work upon plugging in: wireless printer and mouse, HDMI port to 2nd display, and a USB sound card interface – all good! My RIGblaster duo was also “found” but I cannot figure out how to set up a virtual com port pointing to it so WSJT-X can see it for PTT operation. Below are some command line output of what I have looked into.

I’m able to see RIGblaster duo connected to USB:

wx9m@LURICK:~$ lsusb
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 5986:9102 Acer, Inc BisonCam,NB Pro
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 8087:0029 Intel Corp.
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0c76:120b JMTek, LLC. Plugable USB Audio Device
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0403:b338 Future Technology Devices International, Ltd RIGblaster Duo
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Now I attempt to look for com ports associated to this USB, but this is all I see:

wx9m@LURICK:~$ dmesg | grep tty
[    0.097886] printk: console [tty0] enabled

OK so maybe the FTDI driver is not installed? So I issue the following commands and it does not find it:

wx9m@LURICK:~$ lsmod | grep ftdi
wx9m@LURICK:~$ dmesg | grep ftdi
wx9m@LURICK:~$

Yet the https://ftdichip.com/drivers/vcp-drivers/ website indicates:

All FTDI devices now supported in Ubuntu 11.10, kernel 3.0.0-19
Refer to TN-101 if you need a custom VCP VID/PID in Linux
VCP drivers are integrated into the kernel.

Here are my questions:
Do I need to enable the FTDI driver some how? Or install it and how?
Once the FTDI driver is ready for use, how do I create a virtual com port pointing to the RIGblaster duo USB port?
What am I missing or not understanding?

I’d really appreciate any help to get this working!

Thanks,
Rick/WX9M

[K4QE]

Did you see this page, Rick?

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/VirtualSerialPort

73, Tony K4QE

[W9IQ]

Rick,

You could try:
     Unplug the adapter
     modprobe usbserial
     modprobe ftdi_sio
     Plug in the adapter

This sequence is in case udev failed to load the kernel modules for some reason. Any error messages from them may lend valuable insight.

- Glenn W9IQ

[W7XTV]

I'm running Mint 20.3 (a derivative of Ubuntu) with a USB-to-RS232 adapter on my system.  I have no issues, once everything is properly configured.  There are a few things, though, that have to be verified:

1.  Are you booting your PC with the rig connected and turned on, with WSJT-X configured to use the adapter, and with the proper data parameters to match the rig?  The kernel should be able to detect it and load the proper modules with no user interaction.

2.  By default, the USB serial adapter is /dev/ttyUSB0 if it's the only one connected.  But permissions are not set to read/write by default.  It defaults to read only.  Because Debian-based systems no longer have an rc.local file, thanks to systemd, the following must be done from the command line:

sudo chmod 666 /dev/ttyUSB*

Enter your password when prompted.  This enables read/write permissions for all users, on all USB adapters that exist, and must be done every time the PC is rebooted.  I have tried to create an rc.local file with this command inside it, made it executable, and with the first line as #!/bin/sh, but it didn't work.  So I just do it manually.

[WX9M]

Thanks for some quick responses with suggestions!

Tony - re: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/VirtualSerialPort I could be wrong but the socat utility looks to be for developing software

Glenn - re: modprobe commands I get the following errors. Looks like a permission issue, should I put sudo in front? Or add some permission to my user?
wx9m@LURICK:~$ modprobe usbserial
modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'usbserial': Operation not permitted
wx9m@LURICK:~$ modprobe ftdi_sio
modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'ftdi_sio': Operation not permitted

WW7KE - re: chmod command fails because I don't have any ttyUSB devices, that seems to be one piece of my overall issue...
chmod: cannot access '/dev/ttyUSB*': No such file or directory

[W7XTV]

Thanks for some quick responses with suggestions!

Tony - re: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/VirtualSerialPort I could be wrong but the socat utility looks to be for developing software

Glenn - re: modprobe commands I get the following errors. Looks like a permission issue, should I put sudo in front? Or add some permission to my user?
wx9m@LURICK:~$ modprobe usbserial
modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'usbserial': Operation not permitted
wx9m@LURICK:~$ modprobe ftdi_sio
modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'ftdi_sio': Operation not permitted

You need to be root to modprobe.  Add sudo to the front of those commands, then try it again.  You'll be prompted for your password on the first command, but you won't need to enter it every time if you type quick enough. 

WW7KE - re: chmod command fails because I don't have any ttyUSB devices, that seems to be one piece of my overall issue...
chmod: cannot access '/dev/ttyUSB*': No such file or directory

Try the above with sudo, then see if the devices exist.

[WX9M]

Thanks Keith

Adding sudo to the modprobe commands eliminates the permission errors. Adding sudo to the chmod command still returns...

chmod: cannot access '/dev/ttyUSB*': No such file or directory

If I'm using the correct command, these are the only active tty devices...

wx9m@LURICK:~$ dmesg | grep tty
[    0.096337] printk: console [tty0] enabled
[    2.162741] tty tty36: hash matches

[W7XTV]

Thanks Keith

Adding sudo to the modprobe commands eliminates the permission errors. Adding sudo to the chmod command still returns...

chmod: cannot access '/dev/ttyUSB*': No such file or directory

If I'm using the correct command, these are the only active tty devices...

wx9m@LURICK:~$ dmesg | grep tty
[    0.096337] printk: console [tty0] enabled
[    2.162741] tty tty36: hash matches

Hmmm....

If you have the entire connection (USB adapter connected, with the RS232 cable to your rig) and properly configured to match your rig (baud rate, handshaking, etc., both on the rig and in WSJT-X), it should work.

You're using a recent version of Ubuntu, so there shouldn't be any issues, other than maybe a bad USB-to-serial adapter.

Try sudo cat /dev/ttyUSB* and see what you get.  Again, enter your password when prompted.

[K4QE]

Rick,

socat is not just for developers.  Developers commonly use it while developing, but it is not only for their use.

73, Tony K4QE

[K4QE]

Rick,

You will need to add your user ID to the list of users allowed to use serial and USB devices (even ones that don't yet exist).  That group is known as "dialout".

Run the following command to add yourself:

sudo usermod -G dialout <yourusername>

Verify it worked with:

getent group dialout

You should see your username in the list.

73, Tony K4QE

[K4QE]

Rick,

When I plug my RigTalk device into my Ubuntu box, it is automatically recognized and appears as follows:

dmesg | grep tty
(some output)
[some numbers] usb 1-3: cp210x converter now attached to ttyUSB0

sudo ls -l /dev/ttyUSB*
crw-rw---- 1 root dialout 188, 0 Jan 30 12:36 /dev/ttyUSB0

If your device is working correctly, you should see something similar.

73, Tony K4QE

[WX9M]

Thanks Tony,

I'm in dialout group...

$ getent group dialout
dialout:x:20:wx9m

However ttyUSB still not getting created even after unplugging and replugging in the RIGblaster, rebooting, log out/in etc...
$ dmesg | grep -i ttyusb
$ sudo ls -l /dev/ttyUSB*

cannot access '/dev/ttyUSB*': No such file or directory

Since your RigTalk is working fine, do you have socat installed? If I try that install, would I be doing the same commands afterwards as listed in the article socat PTY: PTY: or something else to do with ttyUSB?

Rick

[K4QE]

Rick,

Did you try doing what Glenn suggested?
(Repeated here...)
Unplug the adapter
sudo modprobe usbserial
sudo modprobe ftdi_sio
Plug in the adapter

73, Tony K4QE

[K4QE]

Rick,

I gave you the wrong command for adding your user to the dialout group.

Should have been groupadd, not usermod.

Boot your machine into Recovery mode, and use the root user to run the following to correct it.

usermod -g <yourusername> -G adm,cdrom,sudo,dip,plugdev,lpadmin,sambashare,dialout <yourusername>

73, Tony K4QE

[WX9M]

Rick,

I gave you the wrong command for adding your user to the dialout group.

Should have been groupadd, not usermod.

Boot your machine into Recovery mode, and use the root user to run the following to correct it.

usermod -g <yourusername> -G adm,cdrom,sudo,dip,plugdev,lpadmin,sambashare,dialout <yourusername>

73, Tony K4QE

No worries Tony, I never issued the command as I knew I had dialout group already.

I did try what Glenn suggested but still no ttyUSB gets created.

Rick